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Review 70620: Ninjago City - Level 2 B


xccj

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Onto the second half of the second level of Ninjago City. This level features the fashion store, another extension of the elevator, and an abandoned room with the bonsai tree growing out of it. And I also decided to add Lloyd and Koko's house to this section, although it's technically part of the third level.

 

review-ninjago-city-05.jpg

 

The main feature here is the fashion store, where they're selling a bunch of hats, as well as cell phones and a skateboard and a few other small things. (Basically, I think they rummaged through the accessories bin and threw in what they thought looked cool.) The color scheme of white and various shades of light blue is quite contrasting compared to the nearby buildings, which rely heavy on earth colors. In many ways, the fashion level feels like a Friends set, in that it has long sections of windows, a bright color scheme, and plenty of free space on the inside. (Seriously, it's the most opened "room" in this model so far, everything else has been very cramped.) I really did like the technique with the curved window piece on it's side... only after some research, I realized its been used this way before, although that was nine years ago. :o Overall, it's not quite as interesting as some of the other shops, but it is different.

 

I think there's a bit of wasted potential on the abandoned "construction" site on the right side of the fashion store. At this point, I'm guessing they were trying to keep from going over budget, because the room only has a few vines to represent tree roots, and single piece walls on the interior edges. (AKA the two sides not visible in my photo.) I'm tempted to redesign this region myself and make it more substantial, although I'd need to buy some more bricks in that light yellow colors, which is fairly rare. (And some pieces, like the 1x2 plate, only show up in that color in this set.) But this drab room can be forgiven because it attached to the amazing bonsai tree, which actually connects through the window using some CCSB parts. It doesn't feel like there were too many leaf pieces included here (really just four large leaf pieces with accompanying detaining) but they're spread out in a way that still makes the tree feel substantial. Quite a cool design, and the ball joints allow for easy positioning.

 

The elevator extension is just more of the same. The front end does use clips to get a neat window design. I don't know exactly what it's supposed to represent besides just some cool visuals to break up the wall. There is room on the inside to place a fig, although you have to disassemble the entire thing to get to it. Perhaps this could be a display room for the fashion store, or perhaps a place where Lloyd or Jay could hide as Ninjas (or even the Shark Army Goon.)

 

Next is Lloyd and Koko's house, and while it's part of Level 3, it doesn't actually connect to the rest of the level, so I put it here for greater visibility. It continues with the light yellow / tan color scheme, which is great, and it's packed with details, which is impressive considering it's only has the base of 10x10 studs. It has a bookshelf with the "book" plates connected to the back wall via clips, as well as a small table with a TV, a dresser, and a microwave. There are also bunk beds, with the upper bunk removable to place the figs in. Koko and Lloyd also have accompanying posters for their levels (although Koko's hair makes it difficult to fit her in.) The sloped roof is make using the plate with pin holes, and although the design isn't exactly groundbreaking, the repetition looks amazing. (This roof design also repeats on the one wall of the construction site, immediately below their house.) Finally, there's space in the roof to store Lloyd's ninja suit... although it's surprising Koko hasn't seen it since she just has to look up. Anyway, it's a cozy little house that would make an awesome Creator set of its own, and it's impressive that they squeezed so much detail on the inside.

 

The fig selection is mediocre again. Juno is the last civilian fig, and stands out with her umbrella, but all her parts are reused. Koko (or Misako) also uses a new head print to go with her unique hair piece, but the torso is pretty common and I'm surprised they didn't go with her movie outfit, although I guess they covered that with her collectible fig. Civilian Lloyd and his ninja suit both appear in other sets, so nothing too exciting about them either. (Granted, I suppose it's fitting that he shows up here... he's like Emmett or Batman from their respective movies; he has to be in a lot of the sets.) What did surprise me was the use of the training Ninja suits as the mannequins; if you want to make some for all six Ninjas, then you've got two right here. (I already have two, so I need to track down two more and the correct Ninja heads to complete that collection.)

 

No special functions on this level, unfortunately. Most of the stickers don't stand out either. The house has a few neat ones on the inside, plus some designs on the outside that resemble Gali's Nuva symbol. (This may have been intention... or not, it's not that uncommon of a design.)

 

All in all, it's not the most impressive level. The Fashion store is large and bright, but it doesn't quite compare to the crab restaurant or the comic shop, and the two side builds are dull too, although the tree is great. The house design is pretty nice, one of the highlights of the set really. (Now I'm tempted to make more compatible designs and start stacking up houses... maybe figure out how to add another level to Ninjago City. Eh, eventually, anyway.) Just one more level to go after this, nearing the end of this build...

 

:music:

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